


Incapable of Learning

by JQ (musicmillennia)



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Awkward Boners, Chronos Still Hates This Team, Fake Science, Gen, Hallucinations, M/M, Past Brainwashing, Science Fiction, Self-Indulgent, anyway, i am bitter, so bitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 11:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10943946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicmillennia/pseuds/JQ
Summary: Stein tries to teach Mick a thing or two about temporal physics. It turns out Leonard Snart is not the only one out to protect Mick Rory―if only to seek revenge wherever he can get it.





	Incapable of Learning

**Author's Note:**

> Although I adore Oscar Wilde and his sass, the quote I am using is directed at this specific character―Stein―and does not reflect my views on teachers. Just wanted to make that clear.

_"Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching."_ ―Oscar Wilde

* * *

Since Snart's return, Mick's hallucinations have jumped ship. At least, the ones of his partner. He doubts the other ones are ever gonna leave him.

Chronos, when he appears, never talks to him. He looms silently in the background, a harsh presence that Mick always stands in front of, like he's somehow gonna hurt the team and Mick has to act as shield. Sometimes he stalks the perimeter, which is when Mick gets fidgety and distracted. He's always in the full armor, and always, always pissed.

Now that Len's back at his side, Mick can trust him to cover him if he's too busy watching Chronos. Len's gettin' suspicious, but he hasn't asked about Mick's zoning yet. They're still a bit rocky after all that's happened, but Mick knows the talk is coming.

"Mr. Rory, are you paying attention?"

Mick blinks at Stein.

The man huffs. "I know it is difficult for your short attention span, but I urge you to make an effort. Everyone on this ship should at least know the basics of temporal physics."

Chronos is standing next to Mick. He's never been directly next to him like this, much less with his helmet off, so sue Mick for bein' a little out of it. Len's playing cards with Sara in the cargo bay, leaving him without a cover and Stein without another intellectual to distract himself with.

"Yeah, yeah," Mick says, "so what's with all the letters?"

Stein sighs, long and loud. "Of course you don't know algebra. Why did I assume otherwise?"

Chronos snarls, "Why are we bothering with this arrogant child?"

Mick goes very, very still.

"From the beginning, Mr. Rory," Stein says, " _again_."

"Yes, he is a child," Chronos says, "We are far older in age and experience. I ask again: why are we bothering?"

Mick swallows.

"My knowledge is yours," Chronos snaps, "This sophomoric professor would not know a temporal flux solution from Jurgen's Theorem, yet you ask why there are  _letters_ in mathematics. I grow tired of this game and this so-called team."

Slowly, Mick raises his chin.

Chronos scoffs. "As if I could gain control now. With Leonard Snart," he sneers the name, "on board and agreeable, I have no foothold in our consciousness but this shade. But if this is the only revenge I can obtain, I will have it."

He steps closer. Mick can almost feel the hard shell of his armor.

"Come now, Mick. Don't you ever wonder what it would be like if you upstaged this moron? We could crack that equation he's been puzzling over in a matter of  _seconds_. I may feel nothing for you, but you are still me, and I despise this man.  _Indulge_ me. Indulge us."

"Mr. Rory!" Stein shouts, "For once in your life, use what brains you have and listen!"

"Well?" Chronos murmurs.

Mick clenches and unclenches his fists. He hates to admit it, but...damn if this hunter don't got a point.

He opens his mouth, and they speak as one.

"The H. G. Hypothesis has nothing to do with the Verne Solution. If you attempt to combine them, as you are now, you will only reach complications. Yet you throw them around as if you can teach them to a beginner. Furthermore, the fact that you assume I know nothing of this subject is ludicrous. Bounty hunters are imprinted with this knowledge directly following induction, when the brain is most susceptible." They walk to the whiteboard, where Stein has been ripping his hair out over trying to solve an equation put by Rip after their latest jaunt in the timestream. "And what you have here is a simple problem that I'm surprised Rip, a former Time Master, couldn't solve."

Mick picks up the marker, but Chronos' hand merges with his own, and it's so  _easy_ to start writing, why hasn't he done this before?

"Idiot. Think of it like Newtown's first law, only instead of f = ma, you're looking for the force of time equaling mass and  _flux_ , or f-cubed, as flux counts for three factors: velocity, capacity, and paradox, which form three different equations on their own, but I don't think I have time to go into that with you."

They start the equation from scratch, but the whiteboard's taken up by too much stupidity and Mick  _really_ wants to hammer the difference into Stein's thick ableist head.

"Gideon," he barks, "new whiteboard."

It materializes immediately, and they continue.

"The flux we encountered has more paradox, so you separate that from flux and combine it, so you're looking at f-squared multiplied by―how many paradoxes did we encounter? Three? No, four. I'm gonna shorthand this, then. You keeping up? Or does your poor professor brain not used to bein' lectured anymore?

"So, the time force is definitely off, which means we have to do an origin equation to attempt to determine where it's coming from. Not an exact science, but it'll give us an approximation. There are plenty of types, but the one I'm gonna go with is the Butler Model, 'cause the ones likes Heinlein and Gibson don't deal in specific, subtle aberrations like the one we're lookin' for." He writes it out, a whole host of symbols, not all of which are Terran. Pretty sure some of them are even Thanagarian.

"Yes," Chronos says, "well done."

Whoa.  _That's_ somethin' Mick thought he'd never hear from the bastard.

"Quiet," Chronos growls, "I'm enjoying this."

Mick doesn't keep quiet. He's enjoying this too.

"So, if we factor in the paradoxes with the flux, mass, and time force into the rest of the model...we're lookin' at an aberration in the late 600s, CE. But we need an approximate location now. Thankfully, since we got an era to work with, we can move up a notch. Bradbury's Theorem'll do best here. Pro tip, don't ever use sigma. It's too Terran, and you wanna go for the symbols of the T'Gatoi―that's a planet in the Xanaria galaxy―"

" _Mick_."

"Oh, great," Chronos mutters.

Mick's head swerves to the door.

Len sounds  _wrecked_. He's only ever sounded like that maybe twice in their entire partnership, but those blown pupils and bitten lips, in public? Never happened before.

Len just looks like he's taking in the whole picture: the equations, the marker in Mick's hand, Stein catching flies, but ultimately he's just staring at Mick like a teenager who just got his first boner, and trust Mick when he says he knows what that looks like on Leonard Snart.

"Temporal physics," Mick says, sorta like a guilty kid, though he's not sure why. "It's uh―somethin' I had t'pick up as Chronos, n' Stein was explainin' it real bad, so―"

" _Mick_ ," Len repeats, like it's all he can say, which is a miracle in itself. He sounds like Batman's sandpaper throat before he got that voice mod.

"Mr. Rory," Stein says slowly, "I...I believe I owe you an apology."

"You owe him a lotta apologies," ah, that sounds more like Len, "but we don't got time for that right now. But I've interrupted enough," he steps further into the room, lickin' his lips like a hungry animal, "By all means, _go on_."

Chronos jabs at his head. "You  _will_ finish this for us. I intend to savor this vengeance for a  _long_ time."

"Uh..." Mick shakes his head. "Bradbury. You gotta have the capacity of the aberration match with the era and the paradoxes." He starts writing again, and his brain just kinda―settles. It's actually pretty nice. "Startin' here..."

A minute later, Mick says, "Gideon, tell Hunter we're lookin' for a minor aberration with the rippling effect that originates in Scotland, 'bout 650 to 699. Not easy to spot, but I think I can identify it if I look at a 3D display of the timeline."

"Mr. Rory, I highly recommend a charted version," Gideon says, "the 3D models are extremely complex."

"I like it better," Mick says, "it's easier for me."

He looks at Len in the corner. Len's  _biting his lip_.

"Matter of fact, pull it up right now."

The lights dim. In the center of the room, a mass of colors forms. Webs upon webs upon webs, intricate beyond belief. Stein goes pale just looking at it, but Mick tilts his head.

"Scotland's timeline, 650s to 699," Gideon reports.

"Can you display the Bradbury's Theorem I put up next to it?" Mick asks.

"Certainly."

Neat text appears. Mick reaches out and moves it inside the tangle.

"Ah," Chronos purrs, "much better."

They look at it together, leaning into each other's space.

"What are you looking for?" Len says, back in that low voice that's just a bitch on Mick's belt.

"Ripple effect caused by a subtle aberration," Mick reiterates, "I wanna reconcile the Theorem with the timeline. Lots of it's still in flux, some of it's been changed, so you got the original plus the edits, plus the flux, and some other stuff with the future consequences mixed in. Ripple effects leave definite traces...Gideon, 660 to 699."

"We need more of the future," Chronos says.

"You're right. Expand to 710."

"Who's right?" Stein asks.

"Shut up," Mick snaps.

It takes another couple minutes, but Mick's outta practice.

"There!" Mick says, "Gideon, zoom in to 688, winter!"

He digs his hands in, turning the display this way and that. "Yeah. Yeah, right there. Gideon, what's that date?"

"January 30th, 688 CE," Gideon says.

"That's when we need to go."

"Well done, Mr. Rory. I shall inform Captains Lance and Hunter at once."

Warm fingers clench on Mick's elbow.

"Then you're done here," Len murmurs.

Mick's throat's a desert. "Yeah."

He trails after Lenny like a puppy dog. Chronos disappears with an eye roll.

Stein is left in dumbfounded silence.

 

Len and Mick barely make it past the bridge.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So much fake science, I can't even begin to describe. All of this was totally made up, so if it makes ABSOLUTELY NO LOGICAL SENSE, that'd be why, my dears.
> 
> Also, Len is sapiosexual and you cannot tell me otherwise.


End file.
